When's the Curtain Go Down?
by your royal highness
Summary: A different take on the elevator scene in 'Cloak' Tiva


**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS**

**Okay, so I know every Tiva shipper loved the elevator scene, so I decided to make an 'alternate' elevator scene. Basically, it's not in the elevator, it's outside of autopsy….and Gibbs hears! Hehe so enjoy! It's not that different, just a couple more thoughts. **

Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David waited impatiently for the elevator to go down. She started wringing her hands together, for she was unable to keep still. She had seen how upset Tony had been when he had stormed down the stairs leading from the Directors' office; she had heard the door to his office slam from all the way downstairs in the bullpen. She had watched his angry form march right past the entrance to the bullpen. She had looked up at him, their eyes meeting for a moment, signaling that he had needed her. She had gotten up to follow him, recognizing the pain and hurt instantly beneath his dark brown pools. But, when she finally made it to the elevator, the doors had already closed. She had counted the number of seconds it took for the elevator to make it back up to her, and she could only have guessed that he had gone down to autopsy. To yell at Gibbs and Ducky, probably, she had seen their boss head down there as Tony had been called up to Vance's office.

The doors dinged open and she could hear Tony's yelling from inside of the elevator.

"Anthony!" Ducky scolded, wanting him to stop. Ziva hurried in, the doors sliding open, signaling her entrance, "Ah. Ziva." Ducky said, and Tony spun around on his heels, the anger ripping through his body.

"Tony." Ziva said, not moving towards him. She sent him a message telling him to follow her with her eyes, and he growled, but stomped out past her. The doors sliding open. Ziva gave a closed smile at Gibbs and Ducky, who looked confused, before following him out. He was jamming the elevator button before he let his hand move away in pain, "Ouff, that one hurt."

"No it didn't." He spat as he started to pace around. Little did the two know that the ME and their boss had walked as close as they could to the door without the sensor going off, to be able to hear what they were saying, "Didn't we get our fill of secret agendas and lying and manipulation with the previous administrative?"

"Look, I too had hoped that things would be different by now-"

"I'd like to go and give Vance a piece of my mind." He seethed, looking up as if he was sending the Director a hate message. Ziva knew that Jenny's death had really hurt him; but it wasn't his fault. She went the easy way out, instead of in the excruciating pain her disease would have caused her.

"The way you're losing it, I don't think you have enough to spare!" She rebutted, but instantly regretted it. In Tony's state of mind right now, that may have not been the best thing to say, but Tony didn't seem phased by it. It was if she had never spoken.

"I'd like to take that toothpick of his and shove it up a SecNav cigar!" He said, still glaring at the ceiling. Gibbs, who was listening, had to smile at that part. He hadn't liked SecNav either. Ziva, as well as Gibbs, laughed.

"You have had enough of this job, haven't you?" Gibbs almost stopped. Tony wasn't going to leave NCIS just because of this, was he? No, he wouldn't. Gibbs would have felt it. Before Ziva could even finish, Tony raised his voice.

"I like the job! I don't like the politics. I wasn't kidding about that part earlier." Tony continued to pace next to Ziva.

"If you had ever had some military training, then maybe you would have learned to _follow orders_!" Ziva spat back. Gibbs and Ducky stared at each other in worry as Tony raised his voice again. Gibbs wondered where that had come from. Following orders?

He stopped and turned on his heel to face his partner, "What?! Like you? We were given a direct order not to engage! I recall that you were the first one to throw a punch!"

"It was a reflex!" Ziva defended, and Gibbs was eager to hear more, even though he knew it was wrong. He didn't care, at this point. He had been blind through the entire scene; only his two agents knew what happened.

"Hmm? Really?" Tony asked, unconvinced, "Then what happened after? Last thing I remember before the lights went out was you kimbo-slicing through a room full of guards? Was _that_ a reflex?" Tony asked, his tone still staying on the same anger and audacity level.

"Yes! It was! Gunshot went off! I saw you-" She stopped short, a silence brought between the two. Gibbs and Ducky stared at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Did Ziva have feelings for her partner? Real feelings? Tony goes down, and Ziva goes into ninja-mode, knowing that Tony is hurt? What had happened between them? Gibbs had a million questions running through his overly crowded mind, as the silence continued. The first thing that ran through the boss's mind was that they had broken the rule, but he hadn't felt that in his gut lately either. However, his gut had been wrong about many other things before…why couldn't it be wrong about this?

"I'm tired of pretending." Tony said, his tone different, his tone soft, meaningful, a tone that Gibbs had rarely heard him use, especially with Ziva.

"So am I." She responded, before Tony's voice raised again to the tone he was using before.

"It's dinner theater for an audience of one." The elevator doors dinged open, and Ziva knew that this was where she was cut loose. She stepped into the elevator, and, as the doors closed he said, "When's the curtain go down?"

As the elevator started back up towards the squadroom, she couldn't help but think about two things;

One. How much of an idiot she had been for almost admitting her deep-cutting feelings for her partner.

And two. If Tony's last sentence was talking about the director or their relationship. She could only hope it was their relationship; that they would stop this act of not caring soon.

Very soon.


End file.
